Safety First! This project offers a lot of opportunities to burn oneself with a glue gun. Please, please be careful! Even better, wear some heat-proof gloves while gluing.

First, make your flowers. In fact, make lots of ’em. Use whatever pattern you like.

My friend wanted spiral flowers so I chose the motif from the Rose Field Baby Blanket by Tanya Sh on Ravelry. I particularly like these flowers because they have a base (that you would normally sew together to form a blanket) which makes them easy to glue on to a foam ball.

Once you’ve created all your flowers and sewn in the ends, you’re ready to move on to making the foam base.

Personally, I thought a 7 inch stem was too long, so I started by cutting off about 3 inches off the top (or widest end) of the foam vase insert, using my plastic lettuce knife, making a 4 inch stem/handle.

Using a knitting needle or other pointy object, stab a hole 4 inches deep into the bottom of the foam ball and a hole about 2 inches deep in the top center of the vase insert.

Stick some hot glue in the vase insert hole and stick the dowel in about 2 inches. Allow to cool.

Stick some hot glue in the foam ball hole and stick the dowel in about 4 inches. Allow to cool. Don’t worry if there is a small gap between the two pieces. I had about a 1/4 inch gap and filled this in with hot glue.

Once you have a completed foam base, you’ll want to cover the stem/handle. I used a crochet cover, but you could also use wrapped ribbon, lace, burlap or other fabric, or anything you like.

Here’s how I crocheted the cover, but you may have to adjust by adding or subtracting rows from the main body to fit your handle.

Crochet stem / handle cover pattern:

Until the last row, this pattern is worked in a spiral instead of joined rounds. With worsted weight yarn and 3.5 mm hook, make a magic circle.

Now for part that attaches to the base of the foam ball….
row 27: sl st to join, ch 2, DC in the same st as join, repeat *DC, 2 DC in next st* around. Sl st to join.

Finish off. Weave in ends.

Attach the crochet cover to the handle with glue. As you can see, I started at the bottom with the cover folded down and progressively added a little glue while rolling up the cover up towards the flower sphere. Hot glue leaks through crochet stitches pretty easily, so please be careful not to burn yourself.

Next, I used floral pins to arrange my flowers on the foam ball, making sure I got the color arrangement I wanted.

Then, I unpinned each flower and hot glued it into place.

Finally, I added a ribbon, tied around the handle. I used a couple of floral pins to attach the bow to the handle at the back, so if the ribbon came untied, it would not be lost from the bouquet.

Tah-dah! There you have it, folks, a custom wedding bouquet that, unlike fresh flowers, can be a souvenir of the special day for years to come.

Congratulations to my newlywed friends, Amy and Peter!!!!! May your life together fulfill all your dreams!!